My Thoughts on Biological Evolution

Motoo Kimura was born on 13 November 1924 in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from high school in Nagoya, he entered the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University. He studied botany under the guidance of Professor Hitoshi Kihara at the Faculty of Agriculture of Kyoto University, but also taught himself population genetics theory. After graduating in 1947, he became a research assistant in Kihara's laboratory. He was appointed as a staff scientist at the National Institute of Genetics when it was established in 1949 and became Head of the newly created Division of Population Genetics in 1964. He worked there until he passed away on 13 November 1994. In 1953 he studied at Iowa State University and in 1955 at the University of Wisconsin, where he received a PhD under the guidance of Professor James. F. Crow. Motoo Kimura received many honors, including the Order of Culture from the Japanese Government in 1976 and the Darwin Medal in 1992.

This book, written by Motoo Kimura (1924-94), is a classic in evolutionary biology. In 1968, Kimura proposed the "neutral theory of molecular evolution", which became the theoretical basis of modern evolutionary studies. After publishing his work in 1983 in the book "Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution", Kimura wrote this book in 1988 for the general public. It was originally written in Japanese and is translated here for the first time.

In the book, Kimura first summarizes the development of evolutionary theory since Lamarck and Darwin. He then shows how the search for mechanisms of evolution developed into population genetics and describes how the study of molecular evolution matured by taking in the fruits of molecular biology. Kimura proceeds to carefully explain his neutral evolution theory at the molecular level. Finally, he presents his view of the world from an evolutionary perspective.

The book has long served as an in-depth introduction to evolutionarybiology for students and young researchers in Japan. There has been remarkably rapid progress in the field of bioscience at the molecular level over the past 30 years. Nevertheless, the book remains an important contribution that laid the foundations for what followed in molecular evolutionary studies. 

In Memory.- Translators' Notes.- Preface.- Chapter I: Diversity of Organisms and Views on Evolution.- Chapter II: History of the Development of the Theory of Evolutionary Mechanism on the Basis of Genetics.- Chapter III: Tracing the Course of Evolution.- Chapter IV: Mutation as an Evolutionary Factor.- Chapter V: On Natural Selection and Adaptation.- Chapter VI: Introduction to Population Genetics.- Chapter VII: Introduction to Molecular Evolution.- Chapter VIII: The Neutral Theory and Molecular Evolution.- Chapter IX: An Evolutionary Genetic World View.